SageVigiles

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Posts posted by SageVigiles

  1. Posted · Edited by SageVigiles

    Mllax, actually in the past few months Charles County has been added as agency #10.

    Howard County and Anne Arundel also use similar systems that allow us to talk to them, even though they aren't part of the COG.

    A few months back during an incident at Six Flags America we had PG County, Howard County, Fairfax County and Andrews AFB talking on the same channel with no complicated patches or $1 million dollar FieldComm units necessary. Everyone just switches to PG Talkgroup 8-Delta-3 and we're good to go.

    If we can get the technology to support 2 states and a major city on one system, then why can't Westchester county do the same?

    E106MKFD and Dinosaur like this

  2. Posted

    I have a question for our Maryland brothers.

    Does everyone in MD walk around with a lit match?

    Not everyone in MD, just Prince George's and Baltimore City... Haha

    The majority of PG County is a low income area, especially after all the military families moved out and DC started being gentrified. Our Battalion borders Southeast DC, which is somewhere between Dodge City and Baghdad in terms of violence. Plenty of gang and drug activity in the county, I beleive during the 90's PG had one of the highest murder rates in America. Also lots of garden apartment buildings with no sprinkler systems, and just generally crappy building construction all over the place. It's not a nice place to live (with the exception of a few towns) but it's a helluva place to be a Fireman. Not too many other places where volunteers can get the fire experience you can get down here. (Or up here, in your case.)

    firefighter36 and spin_the_wheel like this

  3. Posted · Edited by SageVigiles

    I know I'm not in the greater NYC area anymore, so just to be safe Jon, I'll officially take us out of the running for that trophy you're giving out... :rolleyes:

    Morningside Volunteer Fire Department

    Prince George's County, MD Station 827

    Engine 827: 1,056

    Rescue-Engine 827: 977

    Rescue Squad 827: 1,853

    Ambulance 827: 2,824

    Total: 6,709*

    That's with minimum staffing of 3 interior on the Engine, 4 on the Rescue Squad, and 3 or 4 on the Rescue Engine depending on if its responding as an Engine Company or a Special Service. Ambulance is with 2 EMTs minimum, obviously. Though most of the time we run heavier than the minimum. As I've mentioned before we're staffed 24/7 with volunteers.

    *Note: Some of those responses are incidents in which 2 or 3 pieces responded to the same call. I don't have the ability to break down how many unique incident numbers we went on, that kind of thing has to come from Communications, these are the numbers from our logbook. Some of those calls that suppression pieces went on are to assist EMS, but again I can't separate that data.

    KFIYL2000, AFS1970 and JM15 like this

  6. Posted · Edited by SageVigiles

    Today Morningside VFD located in "Gorgeous Prince George's" County, Maryland, celebrated its 1 year anniversary of providing 100% volunteer coverage 24/7 to our community. One of our live-in Firefighters has some experience in video editing, and put this quick clip together from a collection of incidents over the past year.

    We should have another video coming out in the next few weeks as well that's solely based on incidents from the last few weeks of "fire season" down here in PG County.

    Enjoy:

    MVFD 27 - One Year, 100% Volunteer

    x635 likes this

  7. Posted · Edited by SageVigiles

    Not for nothing, I'm a member of a 100% volunteer station that (as of December 16th at 1400 hours), has responded to 6,435 alarms in 2014. December 29th will mark 1 year of 100% volunteer service.

    Minimum Staffing for the Engine Company: 3

    Minimum Staffing for the Rescue Squad: 4

    We're averaging around 50 people providing staffing each month, some EMS only but most are Fire/EMS. If you have non Pro-Board FF1 you must attend a bridge class to meet the minimum training requirements.

    W do NOT miss calls for service.

    If your department is progressive and proactive in approaching your manpower issues, you can solve the problem. Its not easy, but nothing worth doing ever is. But if your department is using the same staffing plan you used in 1950 (with the same training qualifications) then you're going to have some troubles.

    Dinosaur, Bottom of Da Hill and Bnechis like this

  9. Posted

    hey what about that fire in greenville the other night?how meny depts did it take to get enough man power to fight the fire?and how long did it take for the back up co.s to arrive on scene? the volunteers listen to the radio.s to.this has to stop you key board FF.s need better things to do.we can go around and around for months what a waist of time.get up and go train shut down the computer and go check your tools do something good with your time.i dont have the time in my fire house to play key board FF.SMH.AND GREEVILLE did a great job the other night not bashing the brothers at all.stay safe i am done on this.

    Care to give that another shot in English?

    Newburgher, Morningjoe, somebuffyguy and 3 others like this

  13. Posted

    Private citizens are in no way obligated to protect patient information. Welcome to the digital age of nosy neighbors.

    I never understood putting the last name of the residence in a transmission. But the rest of that information is mission critical, is it not? I'm no lawyer, but it would be hard to argue privacy violations there. If someone really has a problem with that information being put over the air, then I suggest they call a taxi to take them to the hospital...

    BFD389RET and sueg like this

  14. Posted

    So they take all the same training and have all thesame qualifications while working in the same house and one group gets paid and the other group doesnt get paid to do the exact same job and tbey dont bicker ? Yeah ok. The very setup of that is a resentment waiting to happen.

    Not really. As I have found running down in PG County, when everyone meets the same basic standards there's only one way to judge the caliber of firefighters: based on the merits of your abilities and whether you can keep the rigs staffed, not on whether you're paid or vollie.

    Go experience how other places do it, and you'll pound your head against the wall when you return to the antiquated ways of the northeast. Not to say that PGFD is the be-all, end-all, we have plenty of problems too. But we get rigs on the road with certified Firefighters and Fire Officers, and fires go out. And other than the patch on our arm there's no way you can tell the difference between career and volunteer.

    x635, BFD1054, CFI609D and 2 others like this

  15. Posted

    San Francisco last night was a borderline-riot situation. A group of about 200 attempted to march to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony. When they were stopped by police, they decided to break windows and march halfway across the city. Next step was to attempt to block the freeways, but CHP and SFPD didn't let them anywhere near those. They ended up breaking windows at several businesses, looting a radio shack, setting fire to a news van, and assaulting several Police Officers. Approximately 75 total arrests.

  25. Posted

    You probably won't find much, Wallingford is lacking in internet accessibility because the Mayor is perpetually stuck in 1970. However, if you have your medic this is a GREAT job, since everyone on the line is a Paramedic, you won't be stuck riding a boo-boo bus for the next 20 years because you have that license. You'll actually get to ride suppression pieces, unlike most "Firefighter"/Paramedic jobs in the state of Connecticut.

    I used to volunteer there so if anyone wants any info on the department feel free to PM me.

    sueg likes this